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Trump Impeachment; Boeing to Temporarily Suspend Production of 737 MAX; Serie A Anti-Racism Campaign Artwork Condemned; India Citizenship Law. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired December 17, 2019 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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NICK WATT, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello, everyone, I'm Nick Watt, you're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta.
Ahead this hour, impeachment gets real. That full historic House vote, just a day away. Then the U.S. Senate will put Donald Trump on trial.
Boeing's problems go from bad to worse, they halted production of its bestselling plane.
And India's prime minister tries to calm anger, thousands now protesting a new law they say is anti Islamic.
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WATT: The U.S. House is going to make history on Wednesday voting for the third time ever to impeach a sitting U.S. president, triggering a Senate trial for Donald Trump. Republicans and Democrats now digging in for what will be a bitter partisan battle. CNN's Jessica Schneider has more from Washington.
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JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tonight top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer is pushing his demands of how he wants a likely Senate impeachment trial to proceed. In a three page letter to Mitch McConnell, he laid out the length for opening presentations from both sides starting Thursday, January 9th, and says he wants Chief Justice John Roberts to issue subpoenas to four witnesses, John Bolton, acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, Robert Blair, senior adviser to Mulvaney and Michael Duffy, the associate director for national security at the Office of Management and Budget.
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY), MINORITY LEADER: These four individuals have direct knowledge of the facts, particularly in regard to the delay in the aid to Ukraine. I do not know what they will say. Maybe they will say something exculpatory about President Trump. SCHNEIDER (voice-over): Whether witnesses are called will come down to what the majority in the Senate will decide. With 53 Republicans, McConnell could completely call the shots, if he secures the support of all but two Republicans.
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: Everything I do, during this I'm coordinating with White House counsel. There will be no difference between the president's position and our position, as to how to handle this. We all know how it will end. There is no chance, the president will be removed from office.
SCHNEIDER (voice-over): Senior Republican aides tell CNN their view, is that the House is where witnesses should have been called. And there is no place for more witnesses at the Senate trial.
Majority whip senator John Cornyn tweeting that Schumer should have talked to Schiff, Nadler and Pelosi. They dropped their demands for this testimony, despite asking for those four witnesses Schumer said Hunter Biden has nothing to offer in this impeachment proceeding.
SCHUMER: I have not seen a single bit, a scintilla of evidence that Hunter Biden would add anything other than show circus distractions.
SCHNEIDER (voice-over): The House Judiciary Committee has released its report, to go along with the articles of impeachment against President Trump, most likely to go to the House floor for a vote this week.
The 658 page report explains the decision to charge Trump with abuse of power, obstruction of Congress and lays out Democrats' overriding argument, that President Trump has placed his personal political interest above our national security, our free and fair elections and our system of checks and balances. He has engaged in a pattern of misconduct that will continue if left unchecked.
SCHNEIDER: Republicans also reiterated their case in the report with Judiciary's top Republican, Doug Collins, who said that Democrats' actions are unjustifiable and will negatively impact future presidencies.
In the meantime, we await any meeting between Schumer and McConnell, to see if they can come to an agreement on the parameters of the trial. McConnell's spokesman said a meeting will be planned soon, to discuss the contours of a Senate trial -- Jessica Schneider, CNN, Washington.
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WATT: Richard Johnson joins us this hour from Cambridge, England.
Richard, up until this point, it has been entirely partisan. Now we get to this stage where they are hammering out the rules for the Senate trial.
Is there any chance that any Republicans will jump the aisle and join the Democrats in insisting on some witnesses and some documents? [02:05:00]
WATT: A proper trial, I suppose?
RICHARD JOHNSON, LANCASTER UNIVERSITY: I don't think we should expect to see the end of the partisanship. If you look at the 1999 Bill Clinton trial as a precedent, when it came to questions like allowing witnesses, that was a point that was taken on party line votes, in the Senate.
He was eventually agreed to allow three witnesses, including Monica Lewinsky. But those were heard in private and did not have the same public impact that the Democrats want right now.
Today's activities and House Rules Committee, Republicans are pulling the amendments, down Democrats will vote down those amendments control that committee 9-4.
WATT: Richard, CNN just had a new poll out which shows support amongst voters to impeach and remove the president, is now down from 50 percent down to 45 percent. To my mind, the Democrats don't really seem to be learning lessons here that shorter, smaller is sometimes good.
They just published a 658-page report, justifying Trump's impeachment. They seem to be losing, if I am right, correct me if I'm not, the public relations battle, which is key.
JOHNSON: It's a bit of a dip in the polls, but still 45 percent of the public supporting impeachment. That is historically very high. We are getting up to the kinds of numbers, that Richard Nixon saw in 1974, which led him to decide to resign the presidency.
At the end of the day, impeachment has an undoubted political element to it. There is a public relations battle, to be won here. I think the likely end result will be a stalemate. American politics is so polarized, I do not see a way where the outcome will be anything besides a polarized situation.
WATT: A stalemate in which President Trump remains in office, perhaps emboldened by beating a rap.
Look forward to 2020, how do you think that plays in the 2020 election, good for Trump or bad for Trump?
JOHNSON: I think in some ways Trump is relishing this. There's been reports that the president wants the trial to go on for quite a long time. Perhaps spill over into the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary.
There are some senators who don't want, that because they are in swing states, where they will need some independent and Democratic support to get reelected. We might see a bit of a clash between the White House, which is happy to spin this out as long as possible, because of what you said about emboldening the president.
But there will be a Republican census that wants to get this done with this quick as possible.
What is extraordinary to, me Mitch McConnell and the Republicans in the Senate, are most likely to succeed in blocking any witnesses. We will not hear from John Bolton, we won't hear from Mick Mulvaney. I mean, the optics of this are bizarre.
Surely if you have nothing to hide, you allow these people to testify. Clearly they have something to hide and they calculate it does not matter.
JOHNSON: Well, in the first impeachment trial, in the U.S. president history, Andrew Johnson's impeachment, they brought in 40 witnesses to the United States. There is precedent for this.
At the end of the day, the senators the majority will control this whole trial. Even though the chief justice is presiding over the trial, if the chief justice says we need to bring in witnesses, if 51 senators say we don't want to witnesses, they would prevail.
Although it looks like a trial, there are many elements that are not conventional and are more much more of a political and partisan nature.
WATT: I mean, I got a text from a friend of mine, who supports the president, who keeps going on about Hunter Biden and Joe Biden and Burisma.
Is that, if Joe Biden is the candidate, is that going to be a problem going forward for Joe Biden, the fact that his son did hold the seat at $50,000 a month, on this board of Ukrainian company?
Is that a liability for Joe Biden?
JOHNSON: If we look beyond this trial, what both parties are trying to do is provide some kind of script, for their supporters, for the upcoming presidential election.
For the Democrats, that script is about the president betraying his country, being a crook, trying to sell out American interests. For Republicans, that's what your friend has just articulated about Hunter Biden, about corruption, cronyism and so on.
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JOHNSON: Both of these parties are looking for how to use the impeachment process as a way of structuring the debate of the November presidential election.
WATT: Richard, thanks very much as always for your time.
JOHNSON: Thank you.
WATT: Now Boeing is pausing construction of their 737 MAX planes. The bestselling model, grounded worldwide after two fatal crashes that killed 346 people. They carried on making the planes, hoping for a speedy recertification. But as Rene Marsh reports, it became all too clear that U.S. aviation authorities were on a different timetable.
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RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: This is a dramatic shift in tone by the airplane manufacturer Boeing. They decided to temporarily halt production of its troubled 737 MAX passenger plane. This follows a meeting with the FAA last week, where they made it very clear the plane would not be clear to fly this, year.
This process would stretch into 2020. But the fact that Boeing is even curbing production of the troubled plane, is a huge turn of events. Up until now, the airplane manufacturer has been positive. Even bullish saying it was looking toward approval for the plane, to fly again sometime in the fourth quarter this year.
With that timeline, Boeing was saying they want to resume deliveries to airline customers in December, that's this month and that is clearly not going to happen. We are now nine months into the grounding of this aircraft.
Boeing has continued to build new 737 MAX aircraft, that were previously ordered, at a rate of 42 per month. That said, in a statement, Boeing said they currently have some 400 airplanes in storage.
But with all this uncertainty, of just how long this grounding will drag on, Boeing essentially realized, they had to halt production. They cannot deliver the planes until the FAA approves them. All that to say, this is all cost Boeing billions of dollars and the airlines hundreds of millions of dollars -- Rene Marsh, CNN, Washington.
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WATT: Ahead, the protests spreading across India condemning a new citizenship law as anti Muslim. Has prime minister Modi finally gone too far?
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WATT: So Brexit is not officially in the bag yet and Boris Johnson is taking no chances. The British prime minister reportedly is making an addition to his Brexit divorce bill putting a stop to any more extensions.
Parliament has set to vote on that bill this week. And 18 newly elected Conservative MPs will be standing right behind Mr. Johnson. The Brexit transition period, is due to kick in after the U.K. officially leaves the E.U., on January the 31st.
Police in London now on the hunt for three men and tens of millions of dollars worth of Jewelry, after a late night heist at the home of Formula One heiress Tamara Ecclestone. They ran off with rings, earrings and a Cartier bangle worth more than $100,000. Ecclestone's father, former Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone, told a
media outlet he thinks this was an inside job.
File this under what were they thinking. This image, used in an Italian anti racism campaign, is now receiving widespread condemnation. Italy's Serie A football league, in which black players have been heckled with monkey chants, unveiled the artwork on Monday, containing the images of three monkeys, with the caption, "No to racism."
CNN's Kate Riley explains.
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KATE RILEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In what has certainly been an eyebrow raiser around the world of football, the Italian Serie A choosing images of monkeys in their latest anti racism campaign.
You might recall as recently as September when Inter Milan's player Koulibaly suffered abuse when Calgary fans made monkey noises after the Belgian international scored a penalty. However, both the artist and the league itself have defended the campaign.
The artist in question always uses monkeys in his work and painted three different monkeys in different colors this time, saying, quote, "Everyone was making the sound of monkeys at Koulibaly, a player I respect, so I thought I would make this work to teach that we are all ape.
"The monkey becomes the spark to teach everyone that there is no difference. There is no man or monkey. We are all alike. If anything, we are all monkeys.
This is another complicated and layered story here. Feel free to explore the narrative more deeply on our website, cnn.com/worldsport.
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That was CNN's Kate Riley reporting.
Those protests spreading across India, condemning a new citizenship law as anti Muslim.
Has prime minister Modi gone too far?
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WATT: India's prime minister is appealing for calm, as deadly protests against a controversial citizenship law continues to rage in the largest democracy. An opposition from West Bengal marched with thousands of protesters on Monday, condemning the new law as anti Muslim because this law would allow religious minorities to have a fast-track to citizenship but not Muslims.
Arundhati Roy joins us from Kerala, India, she is a human rights activist and the world renowned author of "The God of Small Things."
Thank you so much for joining us. This is not the first time that we have seen Modi's nationalist moves.
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WATT: Why now, why has this law sparked what appeared to be protests from across the religious divide?
ARUNDHATI ROY, ACTIVIST AND AUTHOR: This law, which proposes itself as a law about immigrants, a discriminatory law, allowing non Muslim and immigrants to get citizenship, is actually, when you couple it with what is known at the national register of citizens, it is actually a law, which turns Indian citizens into vassals. It makes every Indian citizen petition the government for citizenship.
And then it discriminates against Muslims. So it's a way of cutting the ground, from under our feet. And really question the way (INAUDIBLE).
That has been recognized by protesters everywhere. Although the protests in the northeast, which are anti immigrant protests, are different from the protests in the mainland, which recognize the danger posed to the already marginalized Muslim community.
WATT: I want to ask you about prime minister Modi in more general terms. I have read something that you wrote, which is pretty strong, where you said, "We know what happened in Europe when an organization with a similar ideology imposed itself first on the country and then sought Lebensraum."
Do you really feel this man is a danger to India, to the foundations of India?
This is supposed to be a secular state.
ROY: This man and the organization that he belongs to, what is called the RSS, is openly fascist. Its ideologues have originally praised Hitler.
If you read the same essay that I talk about, I quote how they have long held that Muslims or non Hindus should be second-class citizens. This man who presided over the massacre (ph) of (INAUDIBLE) putting people in that (INAUDIBLE).
WATT: What happens now?
Modi won a pretty big election victory earlier this year.
Is this people power going to make a difference or is the Modi slide going to continue checked but unchecked? ROY: I think the real danger now, is right now you see that students across India are protesting in the most amazing ways. But they are being brutalized by the police, the illegal (ph) Muslim university, police have entered and smashed up the place, smashed up students.
But what I am worried about is the militia, the Hindu right wing militia, is unleashed now. Then you will (INAUDIBLE) a situation of civil war. That is what I am worried about. Right now it's the police versus students and protesters.
But the right to a militia, of which there are many, many organizations, who have killed in the past, who have mass murdered in the past (INAUDIBLE).
WATT: But there would need to be more united opposition in India to keep Modi in check. And that doesn't look like it is materializing.
Or is it?
ROY: Right now, they have just been elected to power. So we are not talking about a new election. But one of the things that you have to keep in mind is that state after state, they have been losing elections.
And a lot of the timing of this has to do with their desire to make inroads into West Bengal, where they are trying to polarize the population, based on this bill into Muslim migrants from Bangladesh, and Hindu migrants from Bangladesh and Hindu Bengalis and Muslim Bengalis.
So a lot of the push is to try and break through the bastion of West Bengal. But now, state after state, Bengal, Punjab, Kerala, the state minister of the people (INAUDIBLE) not implement this bill.
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ROY: Although (INAUDIBLE) but we're coming to a situation that is outside of (INAUDIBLE). When the people, regardless of (INAUDIBLE), people and especially young people are saying they have had enough. (INAUDIBLE) of this very, very bigoted media, that (INAUDIBLE) hatred 24 hours a day (INAUDIBLE).
WATT: Arundhati Roy, thank you so much for joining us.
ROY: You are welcome.
WATT: I believe we now have Sam Kiley, who is joining us from New Delhi. There he is,
Sam, what is the latest on the streets there in New Delhi?
SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm outside the university, where Ms. Roy referred to, where on Sunday, police invaded the campus over the objections of the vice chancellor. Indeed they made official complaints about that, smashing up two libraries, arresting a number of students. There has been a crackdown this morning, police say they have arrested
at least 10 local people, not students, people they described as agitators and troublemakers. The student leaders here, that we've been in touch with, have gone underground. There's at least 36 universities around the country, that have been involved in demonstrations against this act which passed without real -- much opposition in the legislatures, which is now completely dominated by Mr. Modi's party, after his landslide election earlier this year.
The real issue, as we heard there from our guest, governors around the nation are coming out and say they will defy this new act of parliament that confers citizenship on non Muslim immigrants from the three neighboring nations in an outright -- in the view of the critics of the legislation, an act of discrimination.
That has been seen by the critics of the government, as part of a Hinduization effort by the party under Modi, of the whole of India. The supreme court is due to hear complaints about this, a suit filed later on today that will grind its way through the judicial process.
But out on the streets, these protests will continue, they're not very big outside the university. Today is the day that university students head home for their winter holidays. But there are demonstrations that have been called and are active right across the country.
It's clear, here in India, Mr. Modi may have overplayed his card in terms of the Muslim population and in terms of the challenge to the whole idea of India's constitution being secular rather than religious. There is going to be a long and protracted process, involving widespread protests, as this legislation begins to get a grip.
WATT: Sam Kiley in New Delhi, thanks a lot for joining us.
Coming up, Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani says he is uncovering corruption in Ukraine, while activists saying he's actually siding with some of Ukraine's most corrupt people.
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WATT: You are watching CNN NEWSROOM, I'm Nick Watt with the headlines this hour. Boeing will now suspend production of its 737 Max jet, as the process to recertify the plane will likely drag well into the new year. The model has been grounded worldwide since March, following two fatal crashes. The company did not say when production will resume.
Protests are spreading across India against a controversial new citizenship law. Demonstrators say the measure which fast track citizenship for certain religious minorities is anti-Muslim. Many fears the Hindu-led government is shifting away from India's secular foundation. The full U.S. House is expected to vote on Wednesday on whether to impeach President Donald Trump. The move is widely expected to pass along party lines, in which case is then up to the Senate to decide if President Trump is removed from office.
Republican leader and Trump ally, Mitch McConnell isn't even pretending it'll be a fair trial. He wants it over quick, no witnesses. But Democrats are now asking for at least four witnesses, among them the President's Chief-of-Staff.
Now, Mr. Trump is facing impeachment because he pressured Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, and his son, Hunter. But that heat hasn't stopped Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor turned globe-trotting self-proclaimed anti-corruption warrior, just wrapped up a trip to Ukraine. Still pushing that Biden narrative.
Now, remember, the official Trump line is that former U.S. ambassador to Kiev, Marie Yovanovitch, was fired as bad news, incompetent. But Giuliani just told the New Yorker this, I believed that I needed Yovanovitch out of the way. She was going to make the investigations difficult for everybody. CNN's Fred Pleitgen has more now on Giuliani's Ukraine trip.
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FRED PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Rudy Giuliani's continued efforts to dig up dirt on the Bidens and Ukraine are discussing, some anticorruption groups in that country.
DARIA KALENIUK, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ANTAC: It's not search for truth. It's actually continuing to spread this disinformation in the best tradition of Kremlin.
PLEITGEN: And it's music to the ears of Putin-controlled T.V. in Russia, who are eager to paint themselves as innocent, despite the U.S. intelligence committee's conclusions about Russian election interference in 2016.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): It turns out, the State Department is wired to remove Trump's power, and to stop the case of corrupt Biden from being investigated, as Giuliani says.
PLEITGEN: Giuliani, who spoke with Trump last week, after returning from a supposed fact-finding mission to Ukraine and other Eastern European countries, tweeted this weekend a string of clips from pro Trump, right-wing media outlet OAN, claiming to lay out his findings.
Which he says prove fraud by the energy company, Burisma, which employed Joe Biden's son, Hunter, and alleges that then Vice President Joe Biden had the Ukrainian prosecutor general investigating the case, Viktor Shokin, fired.
RUDY GIULIANI, PERSONAL ATTORNEY OF DONALD TRUMP: He will testify that he was investigating Biden's son. He will show you the documents to prove he was investigating Biden's son. [02:35:12
PLEITGEN: There is no evidence that Biden did anything wrong, and Giuliani is also refusing to acknowledge the clamor by European and American leaders alike at the time, for Shokin to be fired due to his alleged corruption.
Ukraine's main anti-corruption action group, AntAC, which has also been in Giuliani's crosshairs, tell CNN there was broad consensus that Shokin was ineffective and provided us with documents apparently showing that he actually hindered large parts of the investigation into Burisma.
KALENIUK: Under his leadership, prosecution is not reforming. And actually, he is blocking the attempts to do the reforms, and to perform proper investigations.
PLEITGEN: AntAC says the same goes for Ukraine's next prosecutor general, Yuriy Lutsenko, another one of Rudolph Giuliani's proclaimed witnesses. Neither Shokin nor Lutsenko replied to CNN's efforts to contact them.
KALENIUK: Giuliani continue surrounding him was the most notorious, corrupt people in Ukraine was bad reputation, who are helping to feed this disinformation.
PLEITGEN: And Kremlin-controlled media is clearly gobbling up the message, portraying America as weak and Ukraine in disarray, but President Trump as the winner. Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Moscow.
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WATT: Now, a key Trumpian priority, the renegotiated trade agreement between the U.S., Mexico and Canada, appears now to be back on track after an 11th-hour hiccup. Matt Rivers has the details on what went wrong, and how it was put right.
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MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this has been a confusing couple of days here in Mexico to say the least, surrounding this USMCA deal. What had looked to be a bit of a crisis in terms of getting this newly negotiated trade deal passed, now appears to have been resolved. So, how did we get here in the first place?
Well, it was just last week, that members of the Mexican, Canadian and American governments signed this newly agreed to deal. As a part of that deal, House Democrats in the United States were very concerned that new Mexican labor laws that had been inactive as a part of this deal -- the Democrats wanted to make sure they were being enforced down here.
And so, as a part of the bill that was introduced in the House on Friday, last Friday, that would authorize ultimately the approval, the ratification of the USMCA. There was specific language put in that bill that called for up to five labor attaches, Americans, to be based here in Mexico City to help monitor and enforce those newly enacted Mexican labor laws.
Well, Mexico's government saw that bill and said hold on, that's a problem. We didn't agree to that. We believe that if those five labor attaches were to come into Mexico, that will be a violation of our sovereignty, and that wasn't in the original deal.
So, as a result, you had Mexico's chief negotiator for the USMCA fly to the United States to Washington to meet with his counterpart in Washington, during the day on Monday, to try and get this ironed out, and it appears it has been.
In a letter released on Monday afternoon, by the U.S. trade representative, that letter said in part, quote these personnel, referring to those -- these labor attaches, will not be labor inspectors and will abide by all relevant Mexican laws.
As you know, the USMCA's first of its kind, facility-specific, rapid- response mechanism allows an independent three-person panel chosen by both parties to request on-site verifications in any of our three countries, when there are good faith questions about whether workers at a particular facility are being denied key labor rights. But those verifications will be conducted by the independent panelists, not by the labor attaches.
Basically, what the USTR is saying there is, this was just a misunderstanding, we will respect your laws, we don't want to let you believe that we will be violating sovereignty in Mexico's chief negotiator for his part said for him, that's good enough. So, it does appear at least at this point, that things are back on track, and we could see a vote on this deal which has already been ratified by the Mexican senate.
We could see the U.S. House of Representatives vote on this deal as early as this week. So, what look to be a crisis now appears to have been averted. Matt Rivers, CNN, Mexico City.
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WATT: Just ahead, is the U.S. ambassador to Hungary getting way too cozy with right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban? We asked him in a Budapest cafe, his interesting analogy, coming up.
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WATT: Brindisi, Southern Italy, just take a look at this.
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WATT: On Monday, soldiers safely detonated a piece of unexploded World War II ordinance, discovered in a town back in November. More than half of the town's residents, that 50,000 people, were evacuated on Sunday, ahead of the controlled blasts. The explosive had been unearthed by local construction crews and damage to the device made it -- made disposing of it, even more dangerous.
Now, even with President Trump on the brink of impeachment for alleged shenanigans with Ukraine, as we have already reported, his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani is still digging for dirt in Eastern Europe, on Trump's likely 2020 rival, Joe Biden and his son. While in Hungary, Giuliani met with the U.S. ambassador there. He is a longtime friend of the President. Our Clarissa Ward now digs a little deeper.
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CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It was an Independence Day to remember, hosted by one of President Trump's oldest friends, the U.S. ambassador to Hungary, David Cornstein.
PAUL ANKA, SINGER: St. Steven's Day.
WARD: Like the President, Cornstein enjoys putting on a show.
ANKA: Prime Minister --
WARD: Singer Paul Anka was flown in to serenade the guest of honor, Hungary's far-right authoritarian leader, Viktor Orban.
DAVID CORNSTEIN, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO HUNGARY: And it is my distinct pleasure and my great honor to introduce, my partner and my friend, the prime minister of Hungary, our guest of honor, Viktor Orban.
WARD: Four years ago, such a fawning display would have been unthinkable. But under President Trump, the U.S. Hungarian relationship is blossoming once again. And that's a no small part due to the appointment of Ambassador David Cornstein.
CORNSTEIN: directly and hello Hungary. My name is David Cornstein --
WARD: An 81-year-old jewelry magnet from New York City, with no relevant political experience, beyond a decade's old friendship with the President.
CORNSTEIN: I became a diplomat. Who the hell would have figured that? I became a diplomat. I know our president.
WARD: Political appointees on both sides of the aisle are often inexperienced and sometimes ineffective. But Cornstein has a direct line of communication with the President. He was instrumental in arranging a White House visit for Orban, despite protests from both parties.
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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Probably like me, a little bit controversial, but that's OK. That's OK. You've done a good job.
WARD: One of Orban's many controversial moves has been to force the U.S. accredited graduate school Central European University founded and funded by George Soros out of Hungary. CEU president, Michael Ignatieff, says that while Cornstein publicly vowed to help the university in its dispute, privately he quickly capitulated to Orban.
Why would he be unwilling to push for an issue that's so clearly un- American interest?
MICHAEL IGNATIEFF, RECTOR, CENTRAL EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY: I don't understand, to tell you the truth. But somehow, I think Mr. Cornstein began to think, huh, it's a liberal institution. I'm closer -- I could serve there like Orban than I am to the idea of say institution. And what's disturbing about that is that shouldn't be the issue.
WARD: For the government here, his appointment has been a gift. Bringing Hungary back into the U.S. as good books while appearing to demand no real concessions.
ZOLTAN KOVACS, SECRETARY OF STATE FOR PUBLIC DIPLOMACY AND RELATIONS OF HUNGARY: For the past two years since the coming of the new ambassador, we believe it's a new chapter we have opened.
The previous chapter was unnecessarily burdened with the kind of ideological debates and pressure that was coming from the Democrats and both was basically derailing U.S.-Hungarian relationship.
WARD: Cornstein's office declined to CNN's request for an interview, citing the ambassador's busy schedule. But when by chance we bumped into him at a Budapest restaurant, he sat with us and let us ask a couple of questions on our cell phones.
What do you say to people who say that you're too friendly with the Prime Minister Orban? What's your response to that?
CORNSTEIN: My response is the same as if you ask me my relationship with my wife. We're married 50 years and we have a good relationship. But we have our days where they're not so good and we disagree upon the certain things. The same thing is true with the prime minister.
WARD: Well, that's a close relationship, Ambassador.
CORNSTEIN: It's a good relationship, where we have established the trust of each other, and where I can tell him what I think he's making the mistake with what he's doing in a respective manner.
WARD: Ambassador Cornstein soon asked us to stop recording. But off- camera, we asked him about his recent dinner here with Rudy Giuliani.
You would only say that the men are close personal friends and that he hadn't even asked Giuliani about the purpose of his visit here. Throughout the conversation though, Cornstein seemed unfazed by criticism that has come his way.
He told us simply, I report to one man only, and that is the president of the United States. And so far, nobody has told me they don't like the results of what I'm doing. Privately, though some fear that the ambassador's actions undermine American interests here and that Trump's disregard for diplomatic norms could deal a blow that will last much longer than Cornstein's tenure, and have repercussions far beyond Hungary.
Clarissa Ward, CNN, Budapest.
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WATT: A Pakistani court has sentenced former President Pervez Musharraf to death. The former military ruler was found guilty on five treason charges, including imposing emergency rule in 2007.
Musharraf was tried in absentia because he's been living in exile since 2016. He's currently receiving medical treatment in Dubai. The sentence can be appealed.
And the U.S. insists it's not yet too late to get nuclear talks with North Korea back on track. There's a U.S. envoy right now traveling in Asia, talking about a season of peace just days after North Korea carried out what it calls another crucial test at a rocket launch site.
CNN's Brian Todd has more.
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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kim Jong-un's regime is getting an urgent direct message from America's top envoy to North Korea. Stephen Biegun, about 30 miles from Kim's border, making a blunt declaration about the stalled nuclear weapons talks.
STEPHEN BIEGUN, UNITED STATES SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR NORTH KOREA: Let me speak directly to our counterparts in North Korea. It is time for us to do our jobs. Let's get this done. We are here and you know how to reach us.
TODD: A key question while Biegun is nearby, could the North Koreans take him up on his offer and make real progress on nuclear talks that have gone nowhere for almost a year?
SOO KIM, FORMER ANALYST, CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY: I don't think they will because if you look at their negotiating behavior from -- you know, even as far as Singapore, even back further, we haven't seen any verbal or any action based North Korean steps toward denuclearization.
[02:50:09]
TODD: In recent days, there have been moves and statements from Kim's regime that have been nothing short of hostile and provocative. Within the span of a week, North Korea conducted two important tests at its Sohae Satellite Launching facility.
In addition to launching satellites, this is a place where Kim has also supervised the tests of engines that could power long-range missiles. A top North Korean General, says, "Priceless data, technologies, and experience gained in the recent tests will be fully applied to the development of another strategic weapon." And that the North Koreans would use it for overpowering the nuclear threat of the U.S.
What kind of strategic weapon is he likely referring to?
KIM: Definitely, something that's going to be bigger and longer range than short-range missiles. Given what our missile technology experts have been saying, it's definitely going to be something in the range of an ICBM or perhaps, the nuclear test.
TODD: North Korea's ambassador to the U.N. says nuclear talks with the U.S. are off the table, and Pyongyang has threatened to send a "Christmas gift" to the U.S., which analysts interpreted as a likely nuclear bomb or long-range missile test.
There has also been a return to name-calling.
TRUMP: Like sending rockets up, doesn't he? That's why I call him, Rocketman.
TODD: The North Koreans responding with one of their favorite insults, calling Trump a dotard, an old man bereft of patience. On Monday, the president seemed to issue a subtle warning to the dictator over the possibility of another weapons test.
TRUMP: I'd be disappointed if something would be in the works. And if it is, we'll take care of it. But we'll see. We'll watching it very closely.
TODD: Some experts believe Kim is making a last push before his self- imposed year-end deadline for more progress on nuclear talks arrives. But others say the latest aggression shows the supreme leader may never have been serious about giving up his nuclear weapons.
GORDON CHANG, AUTHOR, NUCLEAR SHOWDOWN: We got to remember that nobody has ever enticed the North Koreans into good behavior. Not the Chinese, not the Russians, not the South Koreans. President Trump has tried that for a year and a half, clearly, it hasn't worked.
TODD: Analysts say one of President Trump's few good options left to take the momentum back and to pressure Kim Jong-un into really getting serious about nuclear talks is to tighten sanctions against North Korea more seriously to put pressure on Chinese banks that do business with Kim, to pressure Russia and South Korea to cut the flow of cash to the dictator.
Analysts say, at that point, Kim Jong-un may have little choice but to get serious with Trump and really dismantle part of his arsenal.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WATT: A trail of destruction. Dozens of tornadoes sweep through the southern U.S. The latest on that threat from the deadly weather, that's next.
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WATT: More than a million people are right now under a tornado watch across the southern U.S. after a day of severe storms that saw dozens of tornadoes leave a path of destruction.
Multiple injuries have been reported from Louisiana to Alabama, and at least, three people have been killed. Meteorologists Pedram Javaheri joins us now with more. Pedram.
[02:54:59]
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN INTERNATIONAL METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Nick, you know, it's been a wild day across portions of the United States and an impressive run of tornadoes for any time of year, let alone the cold season. And, of course, the quiet season when it comes to severe weather activity across the U.S.
But 26 reports of tornadoes across the southern U.S., the vast majority of them into the state of Mississippi. But ironically enough, these states that had just a couple of tornadoes which were face of Alabama on into portions of Louisiana.
That's where the fatalities were with this particular line of storms. And notice the energy shifts off towards the east. So, the threat now into portions of the Florida Panhandle on into the Carolinas, its portions of the even southeastern the state of Georgia there for some severe weather.
But 26 tornadoes, again, on the 16th of December have been lined with what the country of Germany gets as a whole in an entire year. So, kind of gives you the perspective of how impressive it is here in the United States to see that many tornadoes.
And then, look at the climatological breakdown in the U.S. this is by far and away be quiet this time of year when it comes to severe weather activity. So, rather unusual to see this, of course, into the month of December.
Now, what is not unusual is fire activity across portions of Australia. But the severity of what's happening there are becoming unusual across New South Wales. In particular, 113 active fires, 23 of which still considered uncontained.
And unfortunately, the extreme heat that's been in place now skirting off a little towards the east over the next couple of days. So, we expect the fire weather activity here to ramp up over the next couple of days as well.
In fact, look at this. The hottest temperature ever observed across Australia as a continent, you'd have to go back to January of 1960, it was 50.7 degrees Celsius across portions of southern Australia.
And then you notice what is slated and what's possible within the next couple of days potentially pushing up close to 50 degrees. So, certainly, historic heatwave in place. And we know December record, at least, in jeopardy that which is about 49.5 for this time of year.
And notice even windy conditions expected to pick up. So, you factor in the winds, you factor in the extreme heat in place. We know the fire weather behavior really going to be dangerous over the next couple of days.
And Nick, when you kind of look at the entire continent as a whole and pick up an average temperature out of this in Australia, it comes in at a stifling 41 degrees Celsius. So, firefighters, all the gear they have on and all these weather elements ahead of them really going to make it a difficult effort here over the next couple of days.
WATT: Pedram, thank you very much. And thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Nick Watt. The news will continue on CNN right after this.
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[03:00:06]
WATT: Hello, everyone. I'm Nick Watt, and you're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Studio Seven at CNN's world headquarters here in Atlanta.
